When the Bottom Drops Out by James Ryle

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3).

A leak in the roof can be fixed easily enough, as can a broken window or a busted pipe. But when the foundation is compromised in any significant way – then all bets are off. Everything now stands in jeopardy – because it stands upon a crumbling base.

That’s the point of the story Jesus tells about the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. All was well until the storm hit. And as the rain came down and the waters rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house – it all came tumbling down. Not because it wasn’t built well – but because it wasn’t built right. It had no firm foundation. The bottom dropped out, and the house was blown away. (see Matthew 7:24-27).

A person’s life can be this way. Every person you meet believes something. They have and hold to a set of opinions, ideas, notions, values, and beliefs that make up the basis for how they live. This is their foundation. As long as nothing of any consequence rattles their world they may amble along in life quite blissfully; supposing all is well and good. And on the surface it may very well be – until the bottom drops out.

The same is true of a Nation. What a Society believes determines how it behaves. If its foundations are rock solid and unchanging, it can weather any storm or controversy with confidence that all will hold together. But if its Morals are shifty, and its Ethics unstable; if its Academics are flawed, and its Judiciary biased and untruthful; if its Economy is corrupted by greed, and its Politics driven by ambitious pride – woe be unto the people when the storms come to that land.

Our text asks a question, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Indeed – what CAN the righteous do? What SHOULD they do? And, perhaps more to the immediate point – what WILL they do?

Daniel, a statesman for God in the midst of Babylon, a Great Society doomed for a historical collapse because of its faulty beliefs, gave us not only his own exemplary life as proof that truth works in the midst of error and confusion, but he also assured us with his timeless words as well. “The people who know their God, shall be strong and do exploits” (Daniel 11:32).

In a day when deceit and flattery seduce mindless people into meaningless existence, the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do great exploits; they shall stay courageously loyal to God and thus prevail valiantly when the bottom drops out.